1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a deflector placed in the path of a fuel spray emitted from an injector and, more particularly, to a conduit which is formed in the shape of a spoon-like surface and provided a flow of pressurized air to deflect and direct the spray of fuel toward a preselected region of a combustion chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Internal combustion engines have been known and used for many years. Certain types of internal combustion engines are provided with fuel injectors. Some systems inject fuel into an air intake manifold of the engine, some inject air directly into the combustion chamber of a cylinder above the top dead center piston position, and others inject fuel through an opening formed in the cylindrical wall of the cylinder at a location below top dead center. Each of these fuel injection techniques have certain advantages and disadvantages and are best suited for certain applications.
When fuel is injected into a cylinder, particularly when the fuel is injected through a wall of the cylinder in a direction toward the exhaust port, some of the fuel may pass directly through the cylinder and out of the exhaust port prior to ignition of the fuel/air mixture within the cylinder.
One solution to the problem described immediately above is to install the fuel injector at an acute angle to a line that is perpendicular to the centerline of the piston and cylinder. By providing this angle, the fuel is injected toward a location that is above the exhaust port and closer to the spark plug. However, when a fuel injector is disposed at this type of angle, much more valuable engine space is used than would otherwise be required for an application where the fuel injector emitted the fuel along a line that is perpendicular to the centerline of the piston and cylinder.
In many applications, the engine designer is faced with the difficult choice of aligning the fuel injector along a line which is perpendicular to the centerline of the engine and piston, which risks the emission of raw fuel through the cylinder and out of the exhaust port prior to ignition or, alternatively, the engine designer can install the fuel injector at an angle to decrease the amount of fuel passing unburned through the exhaust port at the expense of valuable space of the engine block. It would therefore be significantly beneficial if a means could be provided which utilizes a fuel injector that is aligned along a line perpendicular to the centerline of the piston and cylinder, but which can direct the fuel spray in a deflected manner along a path which is not coincident with the exhaust port of the cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,968, which issued to Johnson et. al. on Aug. 8, 1995, relocates to a two-cycle utility internal combustion engine that employs an accumulator-type fuel injector which has an accumulator cavity and a control cavity, both of which are pressurized with fuel to approximately the same pressure. The fuel pressure in the accumulator cavity applies an upward force on a needle, and the fuel pressure in the control cavity applies an opposing downward force on the needle. The accumulator and control cavities are pressurized by means of the reciprocated plunger pump, wherein the plunger is driven by cam appropriate selection of nozzle shape and spatial distribution of the fuel spray droplets can be made to vary favorably over a range of engine loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,089, which issued to Hardesty et. al. on May 4, 1976, discloses a diesel engine. It is a direct-injection, open-chamber, compression-ignition engine which is designed to operate at high output with a minimum production of oxides of nitrogen by a combination of fuel-air ratios, air-delivery swirl, fuel injection rates, and pattern, diameter and configuration of combustion chambers whereby noxious emissions are substantially reduced.